With the increasing number of pedestrian fatalities, the Hawaii Department of Transportation announced that they are launching a pedestrian safety campaign for their residents.
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In fact, the state of Hawaii has seen an alarming spike in the number of pedestrian accidents since the start of the year.
In the same manner, transportation officials mentioned that they will start disclosing traffic fatality statistics and safety messages over electronic traffic signs in the city and online.
Pedestrian accidents in Hawaii
Preliminary data reported 20 traffic-related fatalities between January 1st and March 15th. From that record, 14 of those fatalities involved pedestrians, 3 involved motor vehicle occupants, and 3 involved motorcycles.
By comparison, there was only one pedestrian fatality in the last year, which requires further initiatives from authorities.
The pedestrian fatalities during the 2018 period include 9 people who were killed by crossing the street, in which 6 of them were not in marked crosswalks.
Other 5 were killed while outside of the car, who also count as pedestrians.
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Pedestrian safety awareness and campaign
David Ige, State Governor, commented:
Although we’re talking numbers and statistics, I want everyone to remember what each number represents. A family member or friend is lost forever every time the traffic fatality count increases. This year, nearly three-quarters of the deaths on Hawaii roads have been pedestrians. That is an unacceptable start to the year and we’re committing to raising awareness of safe driving and pedestrian behaviors.
The Transportation Department also welcomes suggestions from the public with messages via Twitter (#safeHIroads) and Facebook, as a collective way of enhancing highway safety awareness.
Chosen social media submissions will be announced on HDOT social media platforms with credits given to the author.
Ed Sniffen, Deputy Director for Highways, said:
Given the increase in pedestrian fatalities this year, we owe it to the road users of Hawaii to aggressively push our safety messaging by any means available. A number of states are effectively pushing out messaging on highway safety through their systems and message boards and we want it to be a sobering reminder for our drivers as well.
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